Page 101 of A Fragile Enchantment

“I might have been furious, or perhaps I would have had some brilliant scheme. We shall never know. It’s too late now.” Rosa pinched the bridge of her nose. For the first time, a note of despair crept into her tone. “All this time, I endeavored to protect those I love. To secure Avaland as an ally and keep violence from our door, if only for a few years more. And this is where my choices have carried me: exactly to the fate I tried to avoid. My father will either die the proud fool he is, or he will kill Kit. The prince regent and my father may claim to be men of honor, but when it comes down to it, I cannot imagine either side will not retaliate. Conflict seems unavoidable now.”

“That’s all, then?” Niamh demanded. “Are you truly willing to give up so easily?”

“This does not involve you.” Rosa’s expression shuttered. “In fact, you have done quite enough. You should leave now while you still can. Return to Machland and abandon us to our fate.”

“I can’t do that.”

She laughed disbelievingly. “You’re still trying to protect them? Even though you know what they are capable of?”

“This scheme was entirely the prince regent’s, and now, it’s ruined. Besides, he has agreed to meet with the protesters. That is a small start.”

“That is not reassuring. You should know by now that I am not a sentimental person.” Rosa slouched further into her seat. “You truly care for Kitthismuch? I don’t mean to offend you, but surelyyou could have chosen more wisely. You have unfortunate taste in men.”

Her directness snatched every coherent reply from her mind.

“He is… pretty, in his way, I suppose. In theory,” Rosa conceded. “But I am shocked at his poor breeding. He is gentlemanly to no one but you. To the rest of the world, he is peevish and extraordinarily rude, and possesses no grace or decorum.”

A protective impulse seized hold of her. Niamh drew herself up taller. “I beg to differ, Your Highness. Heisall those things, yes. But he is also kind, even when he is not always nice. He is forthright and loyal. And although he would never admit it, he worries about those he loves constantly. He’s rather like a mother hen at times. And… Well, he has such an intensity about him. When he looks at you, it feels like you are the only person in the world. Oh! And his voice—”

“Niamh.” Rosa looked jaundiced. “Saints, enough. I implore you. I will never scrub this conversation from my mind.”

“Sorry!”

“You are truly smitten with him, then.” With only a touch of puzzled wonderment, she said, “Good for him.”

“Yes. I love him.” It hit her all over again that he was currently marching to his death. “Rosa, you have to stop your father.”

“No, indeed,” Rosa said, looking quite alarmed. “He will not listen to me. He has never once listened to me.”

“Do not be a coward, now of all times.” Miriam snapped back into herself. She emerged from the shadows and into a wash of multicolored light. “How do you know unless you try? All these years, you have let him believe you are demure and in need of his protection.”

Rosa startled. “Miriam…”

“I have never known you to back down from a fight youknowyou can win.” Miriam glared at her with a ferocity Niamh had never seen on her. A curl escaped from its updo as she advanced onthe princess. “Your father is doing this for you, misguided as he is. He believes you’ve been insulted. Naturally, he is furious on your behalf!”

“He cannot give me what I truly want. He would not accept it.” Niamh heard the unspoken fear in Rosa’s voice.He would not accept me.“It is far easier to be his weak-willed daughter.”

“He believes you want Kit to be punished for how today went,” Niamh pressed. “If nothing else, you can ask him to spare his life.”

“I can’t.” A pall came over Rosa, and melancholy oozed from her every word. “You are wrong about me, both of you. I am a coward and a masochist. I have never so sorely miscalculated in my entire life. I have failed everyone.”

Miriam stood in front of Rosa’s pew. “You haven’t failed me.”

“I have failed you most of all.”

“Rosa, I cannot pretend I am unaware of what you’re doing anymore.” Miriam planted her hands on her hips. “I am hardly qualified to be a chaperone! You had some scheme to have me married off this Season. I have told you a thousand times that I don’twantto marry. So why are you punishing yourself?”

“I don’t want you to marry, either. But bringing you here was the only plan I could come up with,” Rosa said desperately. “Perhaps that is why I do not like Kit Carmine. Because he and I are the same. We are utter fools for love. We are selfish and self-destructive to the highest degree.”

“I…” Miriam opened her mouth, then closed it. When she spoke again, her voice was very small. “What are you talking about?”

Rosa threw her head back and laughed breathlessly. “I have never once acted with my heart over my head. And doing so, just this once, has ruined me. I wanted to give you a chance to seek your own happiness, far away from a place that has hurt you so deeply. I thought this was the best way to protect you, but I see now it was only greed.”

“What,” Miriam repeated more vehemently, “are you talking about?”

“I love you!” Rosa seized hold of the pew between them. “Do you not see? How can you not? All this time, all these years… My sweet Miriam, it has always been you.”

Miriam gawped at her. “You love me?”